Broden and Raya went in for a weight check up today 4-3-09. Raya weighs 7 lbs 10 ozs and is 20 1/4 inches long. She has gained 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks - wow what a little grower she is. She is eating 4 ozs of formula at each feeding and the doctor said that is probably more then she should be but if she is content to stick with it. She eats every 4 hours or so. I think she eats so much because of her stay at Cardinal Glennon. They made her eat a certain amount when she was there and if she didn't eat it they gave it to her in her NG tube (basically put it directly in her tummy) so my theory is that her tummy expanded then to hold more food. Everytime we asked if this was necessary to make her eat a certain amount the response we got was "if she doesn't eat she doesn't grow". She is in the 25% for height and weight. She is a wonderful baby - always very content sleeps well -sometimes at night she will sleep for 5 hours, doesn't have to be held, but likes it when she is... just overall she has been wonderful.
Broden came in at 5 lbs 12 ozs (woo hoo!) and 19 inches long. So he has done well since his birth gaining a pound and a half. He is still pretty skinny if you look at him, but he is losing that alien - bug look - you know little head big eyes. Don't get me wrong - he is completely adorable, but he does have a bit of a alien look going on - a little more chub and it will go away. He is out of preemie clothes because they are too short for him. He is skinny enough to still wear preemie, but he can't stretch out in them. He is eating 2-3 ozs every 3 hours, but he is having some issues with spitting up and not being content inbetween meals. He may sleep for an hour then wake up with a 30 second cry then go back to sleep and he seems to scrunch up like his belly hurts so we are going to try him on soy formula. I tried gas drops for a week but it didn't seem to make a difference. I am not thrilled that they may be on different formula but I hate that his tummy is upset. He is not even in the 5th percentile for height and weight, but he is growing and gaining at a good pace which is what matters.
Today we had our second official outing - we went shopping. It was Grandma, my sister Tina and me and the twins. They did great - slept a lot didn't fuse about being in the car seats - good little shoppers! I just get side tracked a lot because people stop me and ask about them which is fine.
Kyrah is doing well, she is adjusting to having the twins around. At first she had to be next to them and kept touching them, now she will ignore them unless me or Dennis is holding them, then once she touches them or puts a "blanket" on them a few times she will wonder off to do something else. Bed time is still the hardest part because she likes to be held (and I love holding her) before she goes to bed, but if one of the twins needs to eat... well the baby wins and Kyrah has to either sit next to me or lay on the floor on a pillow - usually with a bit of crying. We have been practicing her egg finding skills. She likes to open the fake eggs and see if anything is inside - she will be all ready by the time Easter arrives.
I have been doing very well. Yes I have to pop two Tylenol each day to ward off the headache from not sleeping enough and live on diet dr. pepper, but overall I am doing great. My incision is healing great and I even went for a jog today. My first time running in probably two years. I am hoping to get back to running my 5Ks this summer.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Bye Bye and other words
Kyrah loves her binkies!
Broden and Raya in their matching outfits having a little awake time on the floor.
Broden and Raya in their matching outfits having a little awake time on the floor.
Kyrah is starting to pick up on more words. She recently started saying Bye Bye. She doesn't say it a lot, but she will wave Bye Bye all the time. Of course her wave is still backwards, she cups her hand together towards her face to it looks like she is waving bye bye to herself. She is good at telling you the sound a cow and snake make and sort of does a horse and dog. Kyrah has gotten into the habit of eating ceral for snacks and she will walk to the kitchen cabinet that has the ceral on it and cry until we pick her up and she points to what kind of ceral she wants - lately her choice has been Capitan Crunch. The problem is that we will put it in a bowl and she dumps it on the floor. She actaully got her first spanking this weekend for doing it after Daddy told her "no". She didn't cry but thought it was a game and laughed at him. So now she only gets her ceral in the cup with a lid on it that she puts her hand in.
Kyrah is still on the same schedule - wake up around 6 to 6:30, eats breakfast, plays, takes a nap around 9 for about 45 minutes to an hour. Once she wakes up she plays a bit, then eats lunch around 11:15 or so, goes back down for her afternoon nap around 12:30 - 1, will sleep for anywhere from an hour to two hours, snack when she wakes, plays, eats dinner around 5, bathtime at 6:15, then off to bed at 7pm. Everyone finds it so odd that she goes to bed so early- I guess she just requires a lot of sleep. I know we should be getting rid of her morning nap, but she is just so cranky if she doesn't get it and by 9 am she is just wiped out.
She is pretty good at using a fork or spoon when she eats and she likes to "dance" to music. Her dancing is more of a swaying or bouncing up and down - very cute!
The twins had a big weekend. On Saturday I had a photographer come to our house and take their newborn photos. We did a family photo but I am not sure how it will turn out - Kyrah would not smile and I think Raya was crying during it. The whole session took 5 hours! The photographer was very detailed and waited until each baby would be in the perfect position - I know the photos will be great but wow that was a long time.
Sunday we had our first outing as a family. We went to my parish chicken dinner. This required busting out the double stroller - wow I felt like I was pushing a train. Both car seats attach to the stroller. Leaving the house was not too bad, we were able to do it in about 15 minutes - two diaper bags, two car seats, one stroller and 3 kids all got loaded into the van. Right now Kyrah is in the middle row with a baby and the other baby gets put in the very back. I don't really like this, but someone has to go to the back. So we arrived at the Church at 11:30 ... an hour and a half later we were finally able to leave. Everyone came up to us to look at the twins. Of course 99% of the people knew who I was (this is my parents parish and a small town so everyone knows everyone) I knew about 30% of the people but had to answer the same question over and over - boy and a girl, 2 lbs difference, yes he is very small... etc! Raya did great and slept the entire time. Broden had to have a bottle but he was good as well. I know going out with them will get easier as I get more acustomed to it, but I don't see me doing it alone very often!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Babies, Babies, Babies
Wow what a March! Let me start with my last belly pic. This was at 36.5 weeks pregnant.
I went into labor at 2:30AM March 8th. It was daylight savings time also. I waited until 4:30 to make sure I was actually having contractions. By 4:30 I could definitley tell it was happening. My sister Tina came over to stay with Broc and Kyrah and Dennis and I went to the hospital. The nurse checked me and I was 2 centimeters dialated and the monitors showed my contractions (I could have told them I was having contractions - didn't need the monitors!). At 6 AM the nurse called the doctor and told him my situation. She came back in the room and announced it was baby day! I was scheduled for a c-section at 8AM.
The c-section went fine. I received a spinal epidural so I didn't feel anything from my belly down. It was a very odd way to deliver a baby. I did feel diconected from the process and hated not seeing what was going on. Broden Worth Kreitler was born at 9:03 and Raya Mary Ann Kreitler was born at 9:07. Broden came out very easy but Raya squirmed up in my tummy so it took the doctor 4 minutes to get her out - apparently that is a long time in c-section time. Here is a picture of Broden when he was born.
Raya had trouble when she was born. Her breathing was extremely labored. The hospital staff put her under an oxygen hood to help her breath. After an hour they decided she needed additional care. By 4pm she was taken via Arch helicopter to Cardinal Glennon. She was given a does of servantant to help her lungs mature. Her offical diganoses was respitory distress and lung disease. Basically her lungs were not fully developed and she was not getting sufficient oxygen. Dennis drove to Cardinal's while I was in the Ste. Gen hospital with Broden. Here is Raya's first picture.
Broden weighed 4 lbs 4 ozs and was 16 1/4 inches long. He is so tiny!! But he has been doing great! Eating well, pooping, peeing and sleeping. Broden's name is a combination of Broc and Dennis and Worth is the only brand of softball bats Dennis has used in his prestige softball career. Broden and I came home on Wednesday. Here we are leaving the hospital. He barely fits in the car seat.
Raya weighed 5 lbs 14 ozs and was 19 inches long when she was born. Raya's name is a combination of letters from Mary and Kyrah and Mary Ann is my Mom's name.
Raya spent a total of 11 days in the NICU. She was misdiganosed with seizures when she first arrived and was given feinabarb medication which calms a baby down into a deep sleep. It took her at least a week to fight off the effects of this medication which also slowed her progress on taking deep breaths. At one week old she was not giving up her oxygen so the doctors gave her a dose of caffiene. This worked and she was able to be weined off the oxygen by Tuesday morning. She had to be off oxygen for 24 hours before she could come home. Finally on Wednesday the 16th we brought her home. This is a picture of her at Cardinals.
Here is the first picture of the twins together.
So what is it like having twins at home.... well sleep is hard to come by. For the first few nights we tried taking shifts. Dennis would take care of both of them up until 12:30 and the I would take over. This was doable, but it took about an hour and a half to feed both of them, you would get to sleep about 30 minutes then have to restart the process over. We have now switched to assigning a baby to a person. We switch babies each night and you are responsible for your baby. This is working about as good as the other way. Either way your sleep is interrupted but at least with the one baby per person your awake time during the night is shorter. During the day my Mom comes over in the morning and together we clean up the house, do laundry and wash baby bottles. Then I have the twins in the afternoon by myself. This is the easiest time because the house gets nice and warm from the sunshine and the babies sleep a lot in the afternoon.
Each one has their own likes and personalities. Raya is wonderful. She eats a full 3.5 ozs bottle, burbs right away then goes back to sleep and she likes to be laying flat on her back in the crib or pack and play. When she is awake she just looks around and does not fuss much at all. She is on a schedule of every 3-4 hours of eating and does not require much in between each feeding.
Broden is a bit more challenging. He eats anywhere from 1 to 2 ozs, spits up some of it, burbs pretty good, then you have to hold him upright for awhile after he eats or he will spit up everything. He also loves to be held and will whimper every few minutes if you put him down. He is not on a very good eating schedule - it could be 2 hours or 3 or 4 before he wants to eat again - you just don't know with him. Although he is a better pooper and pee'r then Raya (if that is something to be proud of...)
Here are some pictures of them from this weekend.
Doesn't he look adorable - like he is just bored waiting for someone to pick him up.
Last night we finally got their room all put together and tried having them sleep in their crib. Up until now they have been sleeping in a pack n play in the kitchen or on us (more often then not on us!). This lasted about an hour before Broden woke up whimpering. Oh one funny thing is that they both make the same grunting noises. I can tell the noises apart about 75% of the time.
Oh and wait... what about Kyrah in all of this... She loves looking at the babies and touching them. Everytime she touches them and they move she giggles at herself. She has heard the word "NO" more in the past two weeks then she has her entire life. Bedtime is the hardest because if one of us is holding a baby she wants to put a blanket on them or mess with them and won't get into her sleep routine. It is an adjustment and I know she will eventually adjust to them being around. I have only had one night where it was me and all 3 kids. It went better then I expected - Kyrah cried for awhile because of course the twins wanted to eat right when it was her bedtime, so I wasn't able to hold her, but I put a pillow on the floor and she got to watch Sesame Street and she was fine. So not to leave without a little cuteness from Miss Kyrah...
I went into labor at 2:30AM March 8th. It was daylight savings time also. I waited until 4:30 to make sure I was actually having contractions. By 4:30 I could definitley tell it was happening. My sister Tina came over to stay with Broc and Kyrah and Dennis and I went to the hospital. The nurse checked me and I was 2 centimeters dialated and the monitors showed my contractions (I could have told them I was having contractions - didn't need the monitors!). At 6 AM the nurse called the doctor and told him my situation. She came back in the room and announced it was baby day! I was scheduled for a c-section at 8AM.
The c-section went fine. I received a spinal epidural so I didn't feel anything from my belly down. It was a very odd way to deliver a baby. I did feel diconected from the process and hated not seeing what was going on. Broden Worth Kreitler was born at 9:03 and Raya Mary Ann Kreitler was born at 9:07. Broden came out very easy but Raya squirmed up in my tummy so it took the doctor 4 minutes to get her out - apparently that is a long time in c-section time. Here is a picture of Broden when he was born.
Raya had trouble when she was born. Her breathing was extremely labored. The hospital staff put her under an oxygen hood to help her breath. After an hour they decided she needed additional care. By 4pm she was taken via Arch helicopter to Cardinal Glennon. She was given a does of servantant to help her lungs mature. Her offical diganoses was respitory distress and lung disease. Basically her lungs were not fully developed and she was not getting sufficient oxygen. Dennis drove to Cardinal's while I was in the Ste. Gen hospital with Broden. Here is Raya's first picture.
Broden weighed 4 lbs 4 ozs and was 16 1/4 inches long. He is so tiny!! But he has been doing great! Eating well, pooping, peeing and sleeping. Broden's name is a combination of Broc and Dennis and Worth is the only brand of softball bats Dennis has used in his prestige softball career. Broden and I came home on Wednesday. Here we are leaving the hospital. He barely fits in the car seat.
Raya weighed 5 lbs 14 ozs and was 19 inches long when she was born. Raya's name is a combination of letters from Mary and Kyrah and Mary Ann is my Mom's name.
Raya spent a total of 11 days in the NICU. She was misdiganosed with seizures when she first arrived and was given feinabarb medication which calms a baby down into a deep sleep. It took her at least a week to fight off the effects of this medication which also slowed her progress on taking deep breaths. At one week old she was not giving up her oxygen so the doctors gave her a dose of caffiene. This worked and she was able to be weined off the oxygen by Tuesday morning. She had to be off oxygen for 24 hours before she could come home. Finally on Wednesday the 16th we brought her home. This is a picture of her at Cardinals.
Here is the first picture of the twins together.
So what is it like having twins at home.... well sleep is hard to come by. For the first few nights we tried taking shifts. Dennis would take care of both of them up until 12:30 and the I would take over. This was doable, but it took about an hour and a half to feed both of them, you would get to sleep about 30 minutes then have to restart the process over. We have now switched to assigning a baby to a person. We switch babies each night and you are responsible for your baby. This is working about as good as the other way. Either way your sleep is interrupted but at least with the one baby per person your awake time during the night is shorter. During the day my Mom comes over in the morning and together we clean up the house, do laundry and wash baby bottles. Then I have the twins in the afternoon by myself. This is the easiest time because the house gets nice and warm from the sunshine and the babies sleep a lot in the afternoon.
Each one has their own likes and personalities. Raya is wonderful. She eats a full 3.5 ozs bottle, burbs right away then goes back to sleep and she likes to be laying flat on her back in the crib or pack and play. When she is awake she just looks around and does not fuss much at all. She is on a schedule of every 3-4 hours of eating and does not require much in between each feeding.
Broden is a bit more challenging. He eats anywhere from 1 to 2 ozs, spits up some of it, burbs pretty good, then you have to hold him upright for awhile after he eats or he will spit up everything. He also loves to be held and will whimper every few minutes if you put him down. He is not on a very good eating schedule - it could be 2 hours or 3 or 4 before he wants to eat again - you just don't know with him. Although he is a better pooper and pee'r then Raya (if that is something to be proud of...)
Here are some pictures of them from this weekend.
Doesn't he look adorable - like he is just bored waiting for someone to pick him up.
Last night we finally got their room all put together and tried having them sleep in their crib. Up until now they have been sleeping in a pack n play in the kitchen or on us (more often then not on us!). This lasted about an hour before Broden woke up whimpering. Oh one funny thing is that they both make the same grunting noises. I can tell the noises apart about 75% of the time.
Oh and wait... what about Kyrah in all of this... She loves looking at the babies and touching them. Everytime she touches them and they move she giggles at herself. She has heard the word "NO" more in the past two weeks then she has her entire life. Bedtime is the hardest because if one of us is holding a baby she wants to put a blanket on them or mess with them and won't get into her sleep routine. It is an adjustment and I know she will eventually adjust to them being around. I have only had one night where it was me and all 3 kids. It went better then I expected - Kyrah cried for awhile because of course the twins wanted to eat right when it was her bedtime, so I wasn't able to hold her, but I put a pillow on the floor and she got to watch Sesame Street and she was fine. So not to leave without a little cuteness from Miss Kyrah...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Chickens!
First let me start with Valentine's day. Kyrah had a party at her daycare and she came home with a big bag of Valentine's treats. Daddy bought her a Little Tikes baseball tee, ball and bat and of course is trying to teach her how to hold the bat correctly. She is actually really good at placing the ball on top of the tee, but her batter's stance needs some help. Here she is in her cute Valentine's Day outfit.
Since Valentine's Day, we all went through the flu. Kyrah got it a week ago on a Friday night so it was a night of Mommy and Daddy sitting up with her while she threw up. It was not pleasant. Luckily it only lasted on night. Daddy got it on Sunday night, and Broc and Mommy got it on Tuesday.
Today (3/1/09) Kyrah and I went to see her cousins Lydia and Nick's new baby chicks. Not sure what made them decide to hatch chicken eggs, but they started with 23 eggs and have 12 baby chicks so far. Not sure how many more will hatch. Here are the new babies...
Kyrah liked looking at them and even touched them once or twice. She is an animal lover. I am still holding out that she will be a Vet when she grows up.
After the chickens we played with Nick and Lydia's toys a bit.
Then went outside for just a few minutes. It is really windy and about 30 degrees out. Kyrah definitely knows outside. Every morning she is so anxious to leave the house. She picks up her coat and walks to the door then she gets so mad when she has to wait for us to get ready.
She is also learning new words. She will tell you the sounds a cow and dog make. Today I was taking her picture and told her to say cheese which she sort of did. I am also impressed with all the objects she knows. She points to her nose, eyes, ears, toes, and belly. She knows to get her socks and shoes then sits on the floor and tries to put her socks on her feet. When she wants to eat she stands by her high chair - this one shocked me. A few days ago she pulled a bib out of the laundry basket and walked to her high chair and wanted a snack. She also knows the Seaseme Street characters. Her favorite is Elmo and Bert and Ernie.
Since Valentine's Day, we all went through the flu. Kyrah got it a week ago on a Friday night so it was a night of Mommy and Daddy sitting up with her while she threw up. It was not pleasant. Luckily it only lasted on night. Daddy got it on Sunday night, and Broc and Mommy got it on Tuesday.
Today (3/1/09) Kyrah and I went to see her cousins Lydia and Nick's new baby chicks. Not sure what made them decide to hatch chicken eggs, but they started with 23 eggs and have 12 baby chicks so far. Not sure how many more will hatch. Here are the new babies...
Kyrah liked looking at them and even touched them once or twice. She is an animal lover. I am still holding out that she will be a Vet when she grows up.
After the chickens we played with Nick and Lydia's toys a bit.
Then went outside for just a few minutes. It is really windy and about 30 degrees out. Kyrah definitely knows outside. Every morning she is so anxious to leave the house. She picks up her coat and walks to the door then she gets so mad when she has to wait for us to get ready.
She is also learning new words. She will tell you the sounds a cow and dog make. Today I was taking her picture and told her to say cheese which she sort of did. I am also impressed with all the objects she knows. She points to her nose, eyes, ears, toes, and belly. She knows to get her socks and shoes then sits on the floor and tries to put her socks on her feet. When she wants to eat she stands by her high chair - this one shocked me. A few days ago she pulled a bib out of the laundry basket and walked to her high chair and wanted a snack. She also knows the Seaseme Street characters. Her favorite is Elmo and Bert and Ernie.Monday, February 9, 2009
33 weeks Belly pic
I am 33 1/2 weeks pregnant at this point. I have gained 16 lbs - 7 of which have been in the last 3-4 weeks. Things are going well. I haven't had any major issues besides my galbladder issues earlier on. Although knock on wood I haven't had anymore attacks. Things are getting very uncomfortable - my belly feels so huge and bending over or even leaning over is a challenge, but I am not on bedrest thankfully so I am not going to complain. I have a lot of trouble sleeping at night - hard to roll from side to side, or my hips will hurt or I have to get up to pee - take your pick. I also have a lot of back pain if I stay in a position for too long, but again - all minor and can be tolorated. My tummy is very full and tight. I can feel their heads or butts (not sure which) way up high. They no longer kick but do more of a roll stretch type of movement. They just don't have any room to get a good kick in and at this point can only squirm around. So sometimes I can just see my entire belly have wave like movements - very freaky!
On Feb. 1st I was given a very nice baby shower from my group of PwC friends. We had lunch at The Blue Owl and I received the best presents - diapers, outfits, piggy banks, baby books etc. I was very appreciatvie and overwhelmed. Thank you everyone!!
So here is the belly pic...
Loads of Toads
On Saturday we went to a Parents as Teachers group meeting called Loads of Toads. It started with a presentation from the local game warden who brought in various snakes, lizards, toads, turtles etc. Kyrah just sat on my lap and watched the whole presentation. She even put one tiny little finger out to touch a turtle. This is a snake that is very common in MO and people often mistake for a water makasin when in fact it is extremely gentle and will not bite.... I am going to take his word for it, but if I see it on a road one day....I am not swearving to miss...
After the presentation the kids had various activity areas to play at or make arts and crafts. This one is called the Lillypad leap. The kids are supposed to work on their large motor skills and hop from lillypad to lillypad. Kyrah walked on all the lillypads and tried to pick them up but no hopping.
This little boy just loved Kyrah and even had to give her a hug. Ugh - I don't want random boys hugging her - they carry germs - I would rather her touch the snakes and toads!
Here she is in the "swamp" where it is really set up for little babies. She would just pick up the toy and bring it to me or Dennis.
This activity involved finding two of the same various frogs and things. Kyrah just liked looking at the blow up frog. She kept wanting to touch its eyes. 
Daddy found a frog out of the pile and teased Kyrah with it.
Watching the other kids play...
Then after a fun time at the meeting a little play time at home.
After the presentation the kids had various activity areas to play at or make arts and crafts. This one is called the Lillypad leap. The kids are supposed to work on their large motor skills and hop from lillypad to lillypad. Kyrah walked on all the lillypads and tried to pick them up but no hopping.
This little boy just loved Kyrah and even had to give her a hug. Ugh - I don't want random boys hugging her - they carry germs - I would rather her touch the snakes and toads!
Here she is in the "swamp" where it is really set up for little babies. She would just pick up the toy and bring it to me or Dennis.
This activity involved finding two of the same various frogs and things. Kyrah just liked looking at the blow up frog. She kept wanting to touch its eyes. Daddy found a frog out of the pile and teased Kyrah with it.
Watching the other kids play...
Then after a fun time at the meeting a little play time at home. Thursday, February 5, 2009
Why do kids like toliet paper?
Kyrah enjoying chicken nuggets, peaches and cheese for dinner! Look at the cutie in her pig tails.
She likes to use her fork but can't quite get the food on it herself so we still have to pick the food up for her.
So after dinner Kyrah walked into the bathroom and unrolled a bunch of toliet paper. She is a sneaky one like that - you have to keep an eye on her or something important ends up in the trach can or an entire roll of toliet paper is unraveled on the floor.
Notice her cute jail bird pants.
She likes to use her fork but can't quite get the food on it herself so we still have to pick the food up for her.
So after dinner Kyrah walked into the bathroom and unrolled a bunch of toliet paper. She is a sneaky one like that - you have to keep an eye on her or something important ends up in the trach can or an entire roll of toliet paper is unraveled on the floor.
Notice her cute jail bird pants.
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